


I'm just a girl

by stepsofthepalace



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: (like it always should have been), F/F, She's the Man AU, Trini's family is also here, but gay, plus an added twin brother for the sake of plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-30 11:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19852669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stepsofthepalace/pseuds/stepsofthepalace
Summary: When the school cuts her soccer team and the boy's coach won't let her try out, Trini decides to pose as her twin brother at his new boarding school. Her plan gets complicated though when she actually becomes friends with her roommate and starts getting a little too close to her new lab partner.In honor of the Power Rangers movie and the sequel that should have been.Also in honor of the USWNT win!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on She's the Man (2006), but actually gay. 
> 
> I was tossing this idea around in my head for a while, and when we got the announcement from Dacre earlier this week I decided I might as well just write it. It helped me feel less sad :(
> 
> This first chapter is pretty much lifted straight from the movie with some minor changes, but future chapters will deviate a bit more. Also, her twin brother is still named Sebastian because I couldn't think of a better name.

“Okay... what is the lacrosse team doing on our field?” Lauren, their captain, asked as the girls’ soccer team approached their usual field for the first scheduled practice. From the back of the group, Trini heard Gia - their striker - call out as she raced to catch up.

“Guys!” She had a piece of paper clutched in her hand as she rushed towards the group, making a beeline for Lauren. “The school cut our team!”

“What?” Trini balked, echoed by several of her teammates.

Gia handed the paper to Lauren, “Not enough girls signed up.”

“They can’t just do that!” Lauren protested. Gia just shrugged - for all they knew, the school could do whatever the hell it wanted.

Trini’s heart sunk as she registered what Gia just told them. Soccer was the one thing that she actually enjoyed about school, and now it was going to be taken away. And it was her Junior year, meaning it was more important than ever to be seen by recruiters if she had any hope of playing in college. It couldn’t just end like this. Not if she had anything to say about it.

“This isn’t over,” Trini said just loud enough for her teammates to hear before turning on her heel and storming towards the other field. The field where the boys’ team was scheduled to be practicing.

As she made her way there, Trini could tell that most, if not all of the rest of her team had followed. It was a bit unusual for Trini since she didn’t really consider herself much of a leader. And though she got on well enough with her teammates, she wasn’t particularly close with any of them - having only started at Reefside last year. In this situation though, Trini figured she wasn’t so much being a leader as she was a catalyst.

The team quickly approached the boys’ coach on the sideline, gathering around him in a demand for something - answers, some kind of remedy, _anything_ really. He barely even acknowledged them when they walked up, not looking away from the field as he gave them an apathetic greeting.

“Hey girls. Heard the bad news.”

“Bad?” Trini was all but fuming at the coach’s indifferent tone, “It’s a disaster.” She didn’t usually push back this much against authority figures who weren’t her mother, but this guy was already pissing her off.

“Now college scouts don’t even get to see us play!” Gia added, never one to quietly accept bullshit.

“I know,” the coach responded still not even bothering to look at them, “And if there’s anything I can do, just say the word.” Trini knew he didn’t mean it, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take him up on it.

“As a matter of fact, there is. You could let us try out for the boys’ team.” She hadn’t told her teammates this plan ahead of time, but they all quickly echoed their agreement.

The coach just laughed. “Anything besides that.”

“Come on Coach, you know we’re good enough,” Lauren protested.

“Just give us a shot,” Trini added before he could respond.

“Girls, we have less than two weeks before school starts. Then the week after, we open against Angel Grove. A _rivalry_ game. We have to _win_.” He retorted as if that was a completely legitimate reason not to even entertain the idea.

“And we can help you win.” There was a bite to Trini’s response as she started to lose patience. 

The boys’ team, having noticed the minor commotion on the sidelines, came up to the group.

“What’s going on Coach?” One of the players asked. Trini wanted to say his name was Chad, or Justin, or something equally dudebro-y.

“Well the girls here want to try out for the team,” the coach responded as if it was nothing more than a ridiculous joke. And the boys took it as such, laughing uproariously - only dying down slightly when they noticed the serious - and pissed-off - looks on the girls’ faces.

“Alright, alright,” the coach gestured for them to quiet down before turning back to the girls. “Look, you’re all excellent players,” he conceded before quickly adding with a chuckle, “but girls aren’t as fast as boys, or as strong, or as athletic. I mean look at you,” he gestured at Trini, “What are you, a hundred pounds soaking wet?” 

Trini clenched her fists, blood boiling and itching to punch this asshole in his stupid face. Which she absolutely would have if she could somehow do it without getting in horrible trouble.

“Look girls, I’m sorry, but that’s just not something I can do. And it’s actually against the rules.” He holds up a pocket league manual to prove his point. “But let me know if there’s anything _else_ I can do… You know, within reason.”

*****

Luckily when Trini got home her mom was too busy with her little brothers, so she was able to avoid the usual barrage of questioning. Which gave her plenty of time to lie in her bed, staring at the ceiling and seething as she reviewed the events of the day in her head.

She was dragged out of her thoughts however when she heard a loud thump from outside her window. She glanced out to see a duffle bag on the ground, apparently thrown from the window of the room next door - her twin brother Sebastian’s room. Curiosity getting the better of her, she quickly darted over to her brother’s door and, upon seeing it cracked open, pushed it the rest of the way - just in time to see Sebastian tossing another bag out the window.

“You know you can use the front door?” Trini asked sarcastically. Sebastian startled slightly, clearly not having expected to be caught.

“Yeah, but Mami can’t see me,” he reasoned. As he packed up his guitar, he continued, “She thinks I’m staying at Papi’s, he thinks I’m staying at Mami’s, and in two days they both think that I’m going away to school. _That_ is the beauty of divorce.” 

Trini and Sebastian's parents had separated when the two of them were about six years old, and their mom remarried just a few short years later. Because of this, unlike their little brothers - who were born about a year after their mom remarried - Trini and Sebastian split their time between their mom’s and dad’s houses. They’d moved around a couple of times with their mom and step-dad, but they were usually still close enough to their dad that they could stay with him on certain weekends, breaks, and holidays. Their most recent move had brought them to Reefside just over a year ago, which meant their dad was now only a few towns away. This only added legitimacy to Sebastian’s story, especially since they were now sending him to Angel Grove Academy - a boarding school in their dad’s town. So Sebastian’s excuse was solid, but that still left one question.

“Wait, where _are_ you going then?”

“London,” he answered matter-of-factly, “For a few weeks.”

“Wait, as in London, _England_?” Trini questioned, hoping she’d misunderstood and he meant some other London that didn’t involve leaving the country.

“Yeah.” Sebastian continued to act as if this was the most normal thing in the world. “My band got a slot in a music festival there.”

“Okay, but what are you gonna do about _school_ ?” Trini had always been a bit more straightlaced compared with her brother. Not that he wasn’t smart, he just didn’t care a whole lot about actually _attending_ school.

“Yeah…” he responded sheepishly as he pulled out a rope out of his backpack and used it to gently lower his guitar down next to his bags. “I was kind of hoping you could help me with that. Could you just, like, pretend to be Mami, call Angel Grove, and tell them I’m sick? Something good that sounds like it would last for a few weeks, like… Mad Cow?”

Trini gave him an unimpressed look as she responded, “Seb, you _just_ got kicked out of Reefside for skipping. This is not exactly the way you want to start out.”

“I wanna be a _musician_ , okay?” Sebastian pushed back, “Last time I heard, they don’t need to know trigonometry.” He started climbing out the window himself. “Besides, if you want to chase your dreams, sometimes you’ve gotta break the rules.”

“You know the percentage of bands that actually make it to the big time?” Trini challenged. 

Sebastian was already almost fully out of the window now, hanging on to the ledge and starting to lower himself down. Trini would have been more worried about him jumping from a second-story window if she wasn’t so annoyed at him right now. Luckily there was a small outcropping of roof right under their windows, so it wasn’t just a straight drop down.

“Probably the same as female soccer players,” he quipped back. “I'll see you in a few weeks.” With that, he dropped down onto the roof and then the ground. Trini heard him stumble slightly with a muffled “Oof.”

“Sebastian?” Trini called out, concern overpowering her earlier frustration. When she didn’t get an immediate response, she called out again a little louder, “Sebastian?”

“Were you just talking with your brother?” Her mom asked, approaching her from behind.

“What? I mean, yes.” Trini didn’t know why she was covering for him but did anyway, stealthily pulling her phone out of her back pocket. “On the phone. He’s at Papi’s. I’d let you talk to him, but he just hung up.”

“I didn’t know you kids still actually talk on the phone.” Her mom was clearly only half buying it. “Anyway the rest of us are going to the mall tomorrow to get the boys some back to school clothes and I wanted to invite you to join. We could pick out some nice things for your first week back?”

Ugh, just what Trini wanted, a day of shopping with her mom. Knowing her, Trini was going to end up with armfuls of sundresses and skirts that she would never wear. 

“I’m good,” was her only response as she pushed past her mom and headed back towards her room. Her mom rolled her eyes in exasperation and followed.

“You’re seriously telling me _that’s_ the impression you want to make on your first day back?” She gestured to Trini’s ripped jeans and soccer jersey.

“Uh-huh.”

Her mom sighed, “Why is it that my only daughter wants to do nothing more than just kick a muddy ball around a field all day?”

“Well, the world has been set right Mami.” Trini answered, turning around in her open doorway, “They cut my team.”

“You mean no more soccer?” Her mom asked, with a hint of excitement. She’d never been great about Trini wanting to play soccer. She’d encouraged it early on, thinking it would be a good way for Trini to make friends, but somewhere around middle school, she’d started encouraging Trini to pursue other - girlier - activities instead.

“Yep.”

“Well, that’s too bad. But maybe now you’ll actually consider trying something else? Dance maybe? It’s probably not too late to sign up for a beginner ballet class.”

“Gross.”

“What about cheerleading?” Her mom continued to press. “It’s still a sport, _and_ you’d still get to compete.”

“Ugh, no. I’d rather die.” Trini hated the cheerleaders at her school. They were all vapid, self-obsessed assholes.

“For God’s sake Trini.” Her mom pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly just as exasperated by this conversation as Trini. “I don’t know why I even bother. Sometimes I think you might as well just be your brother.” Not even giving Trini a chance to respond, she stormed back downstairs. Her mom may have been making a dig, but she’d given Trini a great, if not absolutely crazy, idea.

Picking up a picture of her and Sebastian from her dresser, Trini looked it over in contemplation. While Sebastian was a good half a foot taller than her, they actually looked strikingly similar. Add to that the fact that no one at Angel Grove had even _met_ Sebastian, and that he was going to be gone for at least two and a half weeks - she might actually be able to pull this off. This could be her chance to not only prove that she’s good enough, but also get back at Reefside’s asshole coach and boys’ soccer team. And what was spite if not the greatest fuel for dumb ideas?

Trini put down the picture and grabbed her laptop. She had a lot of work to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trini's plan gets set into motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’m just going to say right now, screw the ace bandage they use in the movie, Trini is getting an actual binder (bind safely kids!)
> 
> Also, there’s no Paul-equivalent, because A) I would want to use a Power Rangers character and idk who would fit and B) I would have to explain how Trini knows him (which She’s the Man does not bother to do). So Trini’s doing this alone (meaning that a good chunk of this chapter is devoted to her figuring everything out and getting herself ready)

Okay, so this whole thing was going to be a _little_ bit more complicated than Trini had initially expected. First off was the decision about whether or not to cut her hair. After waffling on it a bit, she decided it would probably be a bad idea. She knew her mom would not only throw a hissy fit if she cut her ‘beautiful hair’ - she blew up at Trini last year just for getting highlights - but it would probably also make her suspicious. That meant she needed a wig - a realistic one - and some way to make her eyebrows look a bit bushier and possibly define her sideburns. She would also need a whole new wardrobe. Some things could thankfully be taken from Sebastian’s closet, mostly t-shirts and jackets, but she definitely needed men’s pants and shoes that fit her. Specifically, she needed shoes that would give her a slight boost of added height. Also underwear. Luckily Angel Grove had a uniform, and Sebastian’s was already hanging in his closet. So she wouldn’t have to get too many clothes. Though it did mean she would have to take his uniform to the tailor to be taken in temporarily - hopefully they wouldn’t ask her why.

Her biggest problem was what her mom always said was her biggest asset. Trini was - unfortunately - pretty well-endowed, which made things a little trickier. She needed to get a binder, or rather, probably two binders since she would need at least one that was safe to wear during practice. From her research, she also realized she’d have to consider using a packer, though she ultimately decided against it. While it could be helpful, Trini would only need it for a few weeks and didn’t anticipate using it after the fact. And when it came down to it, she could always just shove a rolled-up sock in her pants if needed.

Opening up her wallet, Trini pulled out her ‘emergency’ credit card that her step-dad gave her. He was well-off enough that he usually didn't check the statement too carefully. On the off chance that he did look closely at it, Trini just hoped it would be long after the game against Reefside. Only having two days before Angel Grove’s soccer tryouts - and when Sebastian was supposed to move into his dorm - Trini decided to use Amazon for all of her purchases. She liked to avoid using the site when she could, but right now she really needed next day shipping. Not wanting her parents to see the order notification, Trini made sure to make a separate account before checking out.

The next morning, Trini waited patiently for her family to leave for the mall before heading out to do some shopping of her own. In addition to a few additional shirts and jackets that she thought she might like to keep, Trini also picked up three additional pairs of guys pants as well as a couple of packs of boxers and boxer briefs, trying the pants on first to make sure they hid her curves. Since she was on the shorter side, she ended up having to get almost all of the pants from the boys’ section rather than the men's, which was just a little bit ego-bruising. Sure she was short, but she didn’t realize she was _that_ short. 

She also decided to do a little bit of extra research while she was out, still needing to work at least a little bit on actually acting like a guy. Trini wasn’t a particularly _girly_ girl, but her voice and her walk would easily give her away. So, while she shopped, she also followed behind several guys, focusing on those around her age, and attempted to mimic their walks. A few of them noticed and gave her weird looks, but she usually gave them a wide enough berth that they didn’t see her. She also practiced talking in a lower pitch when checking out, needing to make sure she could do so comfortably without sounding too gravelly. 

When she got back home, her family was thankfully still out, and her packages had all arrived. Picking those up, Trini raced up to her room and unpacked everything, quickly going through her mental checklist to make sure she had everything. Satisfied that everything was accounted for, she got out her duffels and started packing.

*****

Her plan was simple: pretend to be Sebastian, go to Angel Grove and join the soccer team, win in the game against Reefside, suddenly come down with the flu or something, go back to Reefside and have Sebastian return to Angel Grove once he’s back, and maybe one day reveal what she did so she can rub it in that stupid coach’s face. Sebastian was supposed to be getting back about one full week after the game, so that would hopefully help make the sudden growth burst somewhat more believable. At some point, she’d also have to call Reefside and tell them that she’d be out for the first week - it helped that their start date was a week after Angel Grove’s. Also, as much as she didn’t want to, she would have to let Sebastian in on her plan. It would definitely screw things up if he suddenly came back from ‘being sick’ and had no recollection of ever being on the soccer team. So yeah, totally simple plan.

Satisfied that she had everything, Trini picked up her bags and quickly made her way to the front door, hoping her mom wouldn’t notice and she could just call her and tell her that she left later. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?

“Where do you think you’re going?” Damn, no such luck.

“Mami I told you, I’m going to Papi’s for a couple weeks.” Trini lied, hoping against hope her mom would think she just forgot.

“When exactly did you tell me this?” Her mom asked skeptically.

“Um... well-" 

“Mami!” Trini’s little brothers called out in chorus, saving her from having to come up with an answer.

"I'll be right there," her mom called back before turning back to Trini. “Look _mija_ , we’ve barely spent any time together lately.”

“But I already told Papi I was coming,” Trini argued desperately. Her plan couldn’t fall apart already - she hadn’t even gotten out the door!

“Mami!” the boys repeated insistently.

“ _En un momento!_ ” her mom called back, louder this time, “Can’t your papi wait until next month like we planned? Sebastian just left-”

“But Mami-” Before Trini could argue further a crash rang out from the room down the hall followed by loud wailing from one of her brothers. Her mother sighed in frustration.

“You know what, _fine_. You can go.” Trini started backing up, hoping to get out the door before her mom changed her mind. “But the two of us are getting lunch together next weekend.”

“But-”

“No excuses,” her mom interrupted before she could argue.

“Fine…” Trini grumbled as her mom left to help her brothers. She could hear her yelling at them as she slipped out the door - it sounded like they broke a vase or something. Not a perfect get-away, but smoother than she could have usually expected.

*****

Trini had been sitting in her car for what seemed like an hour, going over and over her plan in her head. She was already dressed and ready, having stopped at a cafe on the way to grab a coffee and change in their single-stall bathroom. It was a bit of an adventure putting on the binder for the first time, getting it stuck around her shoulder blades at first and having to wriggle back out of it and start over again. Once she finally had it on it was surprisingly comfortable, though slightly foreign feeling. The closest thing she had to compare it to was a sports bra, but it wasn’t quite the same. When she finally exited the bathroom fully changed, she saw at least one employee give her a weird look - seemingly having noticed that a supposedly different person exited the bathroom than entered it. Now she was just sitting in her car, taking deep breaths and trying to convince herself that this was going to work. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe this was a terrible idea. Maybe she should just turn around and go to her dad's house like she said she was.

No. No, she was ready to do this. She was going to pull this off. Gathering her resolve once more, Trini got out of the car, grabbed her bag, and headed towards her/Sebastian’s new dorm. When Trini was halfway across the campus, she swore she saw someone look at her weird again and almost turned around on the spot. But she took a deep breath and just kept moving.

Walking through the Junior boys’ dorm hall was an interesting experience for her to say the least, not being used to seeing teenage boys in their natural element. Other than her brother of course. There were two guys standing in the doorways of the first two rooms and just throwing a football back and forth across the hall. One of them almost hit Trini in the head - and didn’t even bother to apologize! And when she passed by the bathroom, it somehow already had a smell. Trini shuddered to think about how it could smell that bad already. Everyone had _just_ gotten here, with some people having arrived the day before at the earliest. It was almost impressive but mostly just gross as hell.

She let out a sigh of relief when she finally got into her room, but opening the door, she realized she wasn’t alone. She knew Sebastian had a roommate, but she’d hoped he would be out or something when she got there. There were actually three guys in the room, two of which were playing a video game while the third watched, sitting on the bed. They all looked up at Trini when she entered and she froze for a moment while they all stared at her expectantly.

Trini took a deep breath, giving a nod to the three guys and setting her stuff down on the bed.

“‘Sup.” Oh jeez, that sounded stupid. But it was too late now, she just had to roll with it. “You must be my roommate.” She looked at the guy on the bed since he seemed the most at home in the room.

“Uh, yeah,” he answered, “What’s your name again?”

“Sebastian Gomez,” Trini responded, making sure to keep her voice low.

“Jason Scott.” Jason held out his hand and shook Trini’s before gesturing to the other two boys. “This is Zack and Billy. They live next door.”

“Oh, um, Freshman dorms are in the next building over,” Billy said. Though she could easily take that as an insult, he seemed completely genuine - confused, but trying to help out since he clearly thought she just had the wrong room.

“Seriously, how old are you?” Zack asked with a laugh.

“I uh… I skipped a couple of grades,” Trini responded quickly, hoping they would just accept it and move on. Looking around, Trini noticed a few soccer posters on the walls, including a small one of Megan Rapinoe - her current idol. She couldn't help but smile a bit seeing that. Maybe these guys weren’t so bad. Eager to change the subject, she decided to utilize the posters asking, “So, uh, when do soccer tryouts start?”

“Noon,” Jason responded. “You play?”

Trini perked up at the question, “Absolutely, center forward. You guys?”

“Yeah, I’m a striker. Zack and Billy are halfbacks.”

“Sweet.” The conversation quickly started to drop off, and despite usually being perfectly okay with silence, Trini suddenly felt very awkward. She needed something else to talk about. Looking around the room again, she settled on the TV. “What are you guys playing?”

“Mario Kart,” Zack answered without looking up, “Jason was playing too, but he wimped out when I picked Rainbow Road.”

“Picking Rainbow Road is an objectively dickish move,” Jason argued.

“Or maybe you’re just bad at Mario Kart,” Trini joked. Jason immediately put his hand to his chest in mock hurt.

“My own roommate? Taking _Zack’s_ side over _mine_? You wound me Sebastian.”

“Not my fault if you suck. It’s _your_ game.”

“Okay, that’s it. Next round, you and me, Rainbow Road.” Jason challenged.

“You’re on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: Soccer Tryouts and more


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for soccer tryouts. And Trini runs into someone new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Not that it really matters for the story, but in my mind Jason’s playing as Mario and Trini’s playing as Boo.

Trini was all talk when it came to video games. Since her mom had staunchly refused to let them have a game system growing up, Trini and her brothers always had to rely on visits to their cousins’ or friends’ houses for a chance to play - and Trini had always had trouble making friends with how often they moved. As such, she totally sucked at Mario Kart. Sure she knew the basics, like what button was the gas and how to turn, but the last time she’d played was on her cousin Miguel’s system last year when they visited for Christmas. Needless to say, she was a bit rusty. Jason was only faring slightly better though. Despite actually  _ owning _ the game, he still fell off the track multiple times before even finishing the first lap. 

“Damn you both suck at this,” Zack laughed as Trini fell off once again, “What is that Sebastian, twenty, thirty times now?”

“Hey, I only said Jason was bad, not that I was any better,” Trini argued.

“You guys just need to work on your turns,” Billy said, “If you’re going around them that fast, you need to stay closer to the inside of the turn.” Jason took Billy’s advice and stayed as close as he could to the inside of his next turn, barely making it without going over the edge again. “Like that, exactly!” Billy clapped his hands in excitement, glad that his suggestion proved helpful. 

Trini tried to do the same on her next sharp turn but still toppled over the edge, grumbling in frustration.

“Hmm…” Billy stared at the screen in consideration, “Sebastian, I think you need a cart with better handling. That would help you make tighter turns. For this round though, I think you just need to go a little slower.” Well, she was already gonna lose anyway, so she took her time on her last lap at Billy’s recommendation and actually managed to not fall off. Though it still took her at least half a minute longer than Jason to cross the finish line.

“ _ Finally! _ ” Zack exclaimed, racing to grab one of the controllers again. 

“Alright, I concede defeat.” 

“Good game,” Jason said, giving her hand a quick shake.

“No it wasn’t,” Zack laughed, “You’re both terrible.” 

“Alright Taylor, let’s see you put your money where your mouth is,” Jason challenged.

Jason luckily had enough controllers that all four of them could play a few more rounds - with Rainbow Road being banned for the time being - before they had to head over to the field for tryouts. Jason actually won a couple of times when it wasn’t on a track that he could fall off so easily. Trini still came in dead last almost every time, outright celebrating the one time she passed Zack to pull into third place. When it came time to leave, they all reluctantly put down their controllers, already planning on playing again later that night - debating between Super Smash Bros, Splatoon, or Rocket League.

When they got to the locker room, Trini lagged behind and grabbed a stall to change in, not yet trusting that she could stealthily change in the locker room. Once everyone was out of the locker room they all lined up on the sideline awaiting the coach’s instructions.

“Alright!” the coach called out as he approached, “For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Coach Zordon. This is Alpha,” he added gesturing to the smaller man next to him, presumably the assistant coach. “Now let’s start the season how we finished the last. Sharp!” He held his hand out to Alpha and grabbed the clipboard from him. “Okay, shirts and skins.”

Trini blanched. How the hell was she going to deal with this? Her plan was falling apart before her eyes. Could she request to be a shirt? Would he believe her if she said she was allergic to the sun? She didn’t even hear any of the other names he called out until it got to her name.

“...Gomez, Taylor, Griffin, you’re shirts.” Trini could feel the relief wash over her. That was  _ way  _ too close. Thankfully luck was still on her side for the moment. “Okay, let’s go.” With that, the coach blew his whistle and tryouts officially started.

It was brutal, and at a few points, Trini found herself struggling to keep up. Right at the end, while they were doing push-ups to “cool down”, her arms actually gave out from underneath her and she face-planted on the ground. She forced herself back up, but that definitely didn’t make her look too good. Right after she’d gotten back up, Coach Zordon blew his whistle again, signaling the end of tryouts.

“Alright, at ease gentlemen.” Everyone slowly stood back up and gathered in a circle around the coach and assistant. “Good work. I’ve seen a lot of energy and commitment out there today, and that makes a coach proud. Now, we’re going to split up into first and second-string.” 

Alpha pulled some yellow pinnies out of a box, apparently meant for the second-string players. He handed the coach his clipboard again and got ready to hand out the pinnies

“Second-stringers, don’t take it too hard. You’re just as much a part of the team as the first-stringers. Apart from, you know, actually playing the game.” The Coach read from his list, “Griffin, Cooper, Brooks, Bradley, Gomez. Second-string.” Trini felt more than saw a second-string pinny being handed to her and her heart dropped to her feet. At this rate, she wouldn’t see the game against Reefside at all. This whole debacle might have been for nothing. “The rest of you, congratulations, you’re first-stringers. Now, hit the showers.”

Shit. Trini had completely forgotten about showers. Panic took over, completely drowning out the initial disappointment. How the hell was she gonna fake her way through _ this _ ? She trailed along in the back of the group, wracking her brain for some means of escape, and had just entered the locker room when Coach Zordon stopped her.

“Gomez! No shower for you. The principal wants to see you in her office.” Trini could have cried. Twice in one afternoon, she’d been saved by the fates. She had to start being more careful though. Luck would only get her so far. She quickly grabbed her stuff and raced out of the locker room as fast as she could.

*****

When Trini got to the principal’s office, they gave her an updated schedule and told her to wait in one of the chairs. But less than ten seconds after she sat down, an elegant and intimidating dark-haired woman came out into the waiting area.

“Mr. Gomez,” she greeted with an almost sinister smile. Her nails were so sharp that they almost cut into Trini’s hand when she reached to shake it. “Rita Repulsa. Come in, please.” 

Trini followed her into the office, suddenly very nervous about what she might have been called in for and not entirely certain she wanted to be in a room alone with this woman. Was this about Sebastian’s record? He did have a bad habit of truancy, but he - or rather Trini - had only just started at Angel Grove.

“Please sit.” Principal Repulsa gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. Trini sat immediately, wanting nothing more than to stay away from this woman’s bad side. “I won’t keep you here long. I just wanted to welcome you to our fine educational establishment and see how you were adjusting.

“Oh, well, thank you,” Trini answered. The welcome seemed friendly enough, but she still felt unnerved by the woman’s intense gaze.

“Now Mr. Gomez, I know you haven’t had the strongest record in the past, but I’m willing to look past that and start fresh.” Trini wasn’t sure whether she should be relieved or even more concerned. “I do have a bit of a soft spot for transfer students, seeing as I was one myself, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.” She laughed a little at her own joke. Trini chuckled nervously. “I like to act as an unofficial big sister of sorts for our new transfers, so don’t be surprised if I pop in every now and again to check up.”

“Oh, okay, sure.” Trini rambled in response. “I, uh, look forward to it.” It ended up sounding more like a question, but the principal seemed satisfied enough with her answer.

“Good to hear.” Principal Repulsa shot her another almost-menacing smirk. “Now get out of my office.” She waved Trini away with one hand and returned to her work.

Trini bolted out of the office as fast as she could, barely even remembering to grab her bag. She was moving so quickly that she didn’t even notice she was about to run into someone until they were both on the ground, the other person’s books dropping in the fall.

“Shit, sorry,” Trini said, as she started to grab at some of the books. She looked up to see a girl about her age with short, dark hair cut into a bob.

“Don’t worry about it,” the other girl assured her as she picked up the last of her books. When the girl looked up, Trini found herself staring into beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and she swore she felt time slow down around her.

Trini shook herself out of her stupor, clearing her throat. “No really, it was my fault,” she insisted with a smile. The smile she got in return lit up the girl’s face, and Trini suddenly wanted nothing more than to make her smile again.

“What have we here?” Trini heard Principal Repulsa who for _ some _ reason chose this moment to leave her office. “Oh. Getting to know the opposite sex, are we?” She gave them both a once-over and brushed past them, adding, “Make sure to use protection.” Trini eyes widened and she blushed noticeably at the remark, quickly standing back up. The other girl just laughed as she followed suit.

“Is she always like that?” Trini asked.

“That was actually her being friendly,” the other girl joked in response, “You must have caught her on a good day.” Trini laughed, handing the girl her books. 

“What’s that you’re reading?” Trini asked, noticing the small novel on the top of her pile.

“Oh it’s, uh, ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’,” she answered reading off the cover, “I’ve had it on my Netflix queue for a while, but I wanted to read the book first.”

“Is it any good?”

“I actually just started it, so I’ll have to let you know,” the girl responded with a smile. “I’m Kimberly by the way,” she added, offering her hand.

“Tr-” Trini coughed to cover up her slip as she grabbed Kimberly’s, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “Sebastian.” 

“Nice to meet you, Sebastian.” The two stood in silence for a brief moment, neither having pulling back their hands just yet.

Trini finally forced herself to retract her hand, “Um, well, I better go, uh, take care of some… stuff.” Really? She couldn’t come up with anything better than stuff? Kimberly laughed softly, clearly amused by her awkwardness.

“Okay.”

Trini rushed out of there quickly, not trusting herself to spend any more time in Kimberly’s presence. She could tell that this girl could be trouble, and she couldn’t afford another almost slip-up like that.

*****

At dinner that night, Trini joined Jason, Zack, and Billy at their usual table. Not a minute after sitting down Zack was using his spoon to fling tater tots at her.

“Hey!” She exclaimed when one barely missed the side of her head. Another one immediately followed and actually hit her square in the nose. “Stop it! Jeez, who raised you?” She threw one of her own tots back at him, missing him by almost a foot.

“Good thing you’re not playing baseball Seb,” Zack laughed, “Your aim is terrible.” He flung one more tot at Trini, smacking her on the forehead with it before switching to tossing them up and catching them in his mouth. 

“Hey man,” Jason started, sympathy lacing his voice, “Sorry about soccer tryouts.” Jason looked like a jock type, but he was clearly a kind-hearted person. Trini felt like she’d already basically been accepted into the fold of this little group, which was a little bittersweet all things considered. “We all started as second-stringers though. It just takes time to work your way up.”

“And to get a little taller.” Zack joked. 

“Haha very funny,” Trini responded sarcastically. 

“He is right though,” Billy added, “Some guys don’t hit their biggest growth spurts until about sixteen. And since you’re a year or two younger than us, you’ll probably hit yours by next year.”

“Thanks Billy.” Trini appreciated the sincerity but couldn’t help but laugh at how wrong he was. While Sebastian may still have another small growth spurt or two before college, their doctor had told Trini that she was basically done growing. Sebastian hadn’t let her live it down when he found out she was going to be stuck at 5’1”. And to think, she’d actually been consistently about two inches taller than him until they got to high school. Not wanting to focus on her own failings that afternoon, Trini changed the subject. “So, the game against Reefside. That should be interesting.”

“Why will it be interesting?” Jason asked.

“Well, I know it’s a rivalry game,” Trini reasoned, “And uh, my sister goes there.”

“Is your sister hot?” Zack asked, completely serious.

“Umm… I guess so?” Trini responded. “I mean, she’s my  _ sister _ , so I feel like it would be weird for me to have an opinion on that.”

“Well do you have a picture?” Zack asked.

“I, um… not on my phone.” That was a lie, but Trini didn’t have any individual pictures of herself on her phone - not being big on selfies - just family pictures, or pictures of her with Sebastian. So those definitely couldn't be shared.

“Okay. Does she have a Facebook? Instagram?” Shit, these were all things she had not fully thought through. She needed to severely edit her and Sebastian’s social media pages asap. Or at least make them all private. Luckily she’d figured out Sebastian’s password ages ago and he never bothered to change it.

“Okay Zack,” Jason jokingly reprimanded him, “Keep it in your pants.”

“What? I’m just curious.” Zack defended.

From across the cafeteria, Trini saw a familiar figure enter through the door. She found her gaze drawn to Kimberly as she went to grab her food and find a table.

“I see you’ve noticed Ms. Kimberly Hart,” Zack teased when he noticed her staring, “The current talk of the town.”

“Zack, leave Kim alone,” Jason said with a slight warning edge.

“Is she your girlfriend or something?” Trini asked. A part of her hoped not, but he seemed pretty protective of her.

“He wishes,” Zack laughed, “She was his first kiss back in eighth grade and he’s been into her ever since.

“From freshman year up until this summer, she was dating this football player named Ty Fleming,” Billy explained, “There was this whole scandal involving him, and Kimberly Hart, and Kimberly Hart’s best friend Amanda Clarke. And then Kimberly punched him and knocked his tooth out.”

“Needless to say, they broke up,” Zack picked up from where Billy left off, “So now for the first time in two years, Jase finally has a chance.” He clapped Jason on the shoulder and Jason just rolled his eyes. Trini wasn’t watching though, she had looked back over at Kimberly and noticed that she was eating alone.

“She looks so sad,” Trini said, barely above a whisper. She barely knew the girl, but she could tell that she was hurting.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, “I probably would be too after such a messy breakup.”

Kimberly looked over and caught Trini’s eyes, giving her a soft smile which Trini returned without thinking. After a few moments, Trini realized what she was doing and forced her attention back to the guys at her table. Whatever draw she felt towards Kimberly, she needed to stop or at least figure out how to ignore it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: It took three chapters to actually get Trini on the soccer team and have her meet Kim, but we finally got there!
> 
> Chapters will probably come out slightly slower for the next couple, as I'm still working some things out. But I should still probably get chapter 4 up before the end of the week!
> 
> Up next: Some quality time with the boys and the start of soccer practice/classes

**Author's Note:**

> I cut the debutante subplot because I couldn't for the life of me imagine Trini actually going through with it. Also (in the same vein) I didn't give Sebastian a girlfriend bc I didn't know how to utilize her as a character.
> 
> The next chapter is mostly written already, so I'm hoping to have it out soon. I'm trying to write ahead more on this one than I usually do, so I already have most of the first half at least sketched out.


End file.
